


Lies and Truth

by Jackeline Harkness (Jackeline_Harkness)



Series: Second Chances [1]
Category: Marvel, The Avengers (2012), The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: F/M, Family Drama, Gen, Implied Torture, Kidnapping, M/M, PTSD, Superfamily-freeform, Superhusbands
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-22
Updated: 2013-08-30
Packaged: 2017-12-15 17:53:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/852353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jackeline_Harkness/pseuds/Jackeline%20Harkness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life starts to get easy, comfortable, steady, sweet... and boring, if you ask Tony Stark.</p><p>At least, it does until phone calls shake it all up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is my second fanfic in this fandom. I hope it's not bad enough to make you want to throw things at me!
> 
> Also, I apologize for the horrible summary... that's entirely my fault.
> 
> And of course, I thank [Vixen](../users/crack_the_shutters) and my old partner in crime Cordelia for putting up with my endless fangirling and beta'ing for me :3 You're the best, girls!

 

**Prologue.**

“So now… it’s over?”

Tony smiled. Not in the way he usually did, but in that special, slightly awkward way he did when he was feeling… feeling… well, when he was feeling, and not just thinking and over thinking like he usually did. Because that was him, that was the reason for his personality and his charm and his wit and everything else. He always knew what to say and do because his brain never stopped, and it worked so quickly that he rarely spoke in anger or exasperation.

It didn’t work with Steve.

It hadn’t happened right away, and of course it had been Steve who had put it words: their relationship hadn’t been about a spark of lust or a challenge the first time their eyes locked. It had begun after Phil Coulson’s death, when he’d first seen him shaken. It had been, as he so charmingly put it, the first time he’d been able to see him as a man with a heart, and not as a bunch of cold brains and money canned in a stylish armor.

So of course, things had to be handled different with him.

“It’s been over for a good while now.”

“You know what I mean.”

His smile brightened up a bit at that. Whatever you could say about the old-fashioned soldier, his knightly attitude wasn’t a façade; the man lived and breathed his values and ideals.

“It is over. Officially, I mean. We talked about things and… everything else.”

“Is she…?”

“Fine? She’s perfectly fine. I told you, this wasn’t working. Hadn’t been working for a while now, it was just a matter of time.”

“What did she say?”

“Good luck.”

“Good luck? That’s it?” And his tone made it very clear that he didn’t believe it.

As it happened, he was right. She had said a lot of things, all of them making him remember why he’d actually been in a real relationship with her and, as admittedly self-centered as he was, he was also intelligent enough to know that he’d put her through hell. No ordinary person would have managed to put up with all of his… things.

But she was Pepper Potts… and thus, it didn’t bother him —as much— that she’d been the one to delicately tell him they were obviously better off as friends. Had it been anyone else… Ah, well, that was unthinkable, so he didn’t even bother wondering what it would be like to be on the rejected side.

In any case, Steve didn’t need to know all the deep and meaningful things she’d said. He certainly didn’t need to repeat them, because there were things that only ever sounded good from a woman, and some others that only made sense and sounded good coming from Pepper’s mouth.

“Yes. She also said that she wasn’t quitting her job and that I had no right to tell her not to worry… but that was pretty much it.”

Steve nodded, and Tony felt him relax, even though they weren’t even touching. How ironic was it that he’d think about him as a knight in a shining armor? Metaphorically, of course, though armor certainly was a lot less cheesy since the concept had been remade à la Stark.

“Is it too sudden, you think?” the blonde asked, tearing his mind from half-formed ideas for upgrades for the suit.

“No, it’s not. It’s just… the logical next step, the natural order of things.”

Steve smiled in that slightly crooked way, like he did when his conservative side felt shy in this new world, and he nodded, just a second before Tony leaned in and kissed him.

Just a moment later, Tony found out that while Steve was perfectly ok with A, being in a relationship with another guy, B, being in a relationship with _him_ —which was another cup of tea altogether— and, C, their relationship turning official just a day after Tony and Pepper had formally cleared things between them, he was utterly convinced that moving in was definitely too sudden.

After pointing out that moving in would make everything easier and getting only a sweet but resolved smile in response, Tony had let it rest. Not because he had given up or because he had suddenly become more considerate than ever before, but because after putting up the finishing touches in his new lab at the Tower and getting a couple —or four— of suits made and readied, he needed to go to California to check on the rebuilding process of the house at Malibu and attend a few meetings of varying degrees of importance; which meant, of course, five stars hotel suites that definitely weren’t _moving in_ and thus completely appropriate.

It had been a nice surprise when somehow the press found out about Tony and Pepper breaking up and, after a bit of —relatively— mild speculation of whether or not she’d retain her position as CEO of Stark Industries and less mild comments on how everyone should have seen it coming because it was still Tony Stark after all, it had all quieted down. After the New York incident and the whole thing with the Mandarin, it had been a nice respite, even if Tony wondered deep inside if he didn’t miss having the media’s undivided attention.

In Los Angeles, he had discretely moved one of his meetings a couple of days, making time to take Steve to a nice restaurant and show him some of the wonders of the civilian and not-fighting-related twenty first century world. And then, he’d gotten his answer.

It had started with a few paparazzi shots and wild speculation, and escalated in an even wilder manner after that. First, Pepper had found herself having to answer questions and remind people to mind their own business in a way that put the best diplomats in the world to shame. Of course, it had been only a handful of days before the tabloids were full of pictures of them together and of all conceivable data about Steve: he had served in the army for a few years and was now retired, pursuing an artistic career, which was how he had met Tony during an art exhibition in New York. There were pictures of paintings signed by Steve Rogers that neither Tony nor Steve had ever seen before, interviews with former neighbors, fellow soldiers and even a close friend of Steve’s… whom Tony thought he recognized from the SHIELD clean-up crew. While it was good to have things mostly sorted out and only having to confirm all the fake data the media already had, it bothered Tony to no end that Fury had managed to get them somewhat indebted to him.

Steve had been worried that his identity as Captain America might be figured out, and Tony had done his best to make him chill. After a very exclusive interviews and a brief photo session, which had earned them a considerable sum to donate to a foundation to support young artists, Steve had seen that Tony had been right: while his secret identity seemed very evident to them, society was much more eager to ignore that in favor of the juicy gossip of Tony Stark getting a new young and sexy boy toy. Tony had laughed it off and teased him about it, until some reporter decided to publicly wonder if that wasn’t a clear sign of an extravagant middle age crisis.

The good news was that once they were out in public and attended a few charities together, the media decided to look elsewhere for fresher victims. Also, between Steve moving in and a new idea to improve the latest version of the Iron Man suit, Tony stopped sulking quite soon.

The bad news was that, once that was over and dealt with, Tony started getting restless.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1.**

“I’m not saying that I wish for catastrophe, Steve. I never said that”, and maybe it sounded just a little bit like whining.

“No? Because that sure as hell was what it sounded like.” Whoever thought Steve didn’t know how to curse, definitely didn’t know him. Sure, he didn’t like to curse in every sentence that came out of his mouth, and in fact, he rather preferred not to use profanity at all, but when he was really upset or angry, or even overly excited, it came out. How colorful his language became used to be a good indicator of exactly how upset he was, but living with Tony, that had been changing progressively. His curses had become much milder whenever the engineer annoyed him, but the impulse to throttle him didn’t seem to have diminished. With a huff, he closed the water and stepped out of the ridiculously spacious shower, grabbing a thick towel the size of a small country off the rack.

“What I meant is, why even bother to call us in just for a boring meeting if there was nothing important going on?”

“Because we’re supposed to be a team, and a team needs to train together to avoid getting all rusty.” Steve knew he was repeating himself. For the hundredth time that day, at least.

Tony had been going on about the subject for days now, with the unceasing whining getting worse after he was done with the new prototype for a clean energy engine. Before and after —and during, but at least then he hadn’t had to suffer it alone— the meeting at SHIELD, he had been rambling about lack of action. Then, after lunch, they had gotten some alone time and Tony had been too busy moaning and whimpering, and Steve had thought that maybe he was done for the day. The one-sided arguing resumed as soon as Tony had more or less gotten his breath back.

“That’s exactly my point, Blondie!” He beamed at his boyfriend as he toweled off. “How are the Avengers supposed to be an integral team if we’re kept away from everything that’s going on?”

“Which is why Fury called us this morning”, he said patiently. “That’s the very thing you were complaining about.”

“You keep missing the point. Meeting with each other was good. You know, in case we happened to lose each other’s cell numbers and email addresses and lost all contact with SHIELD and suddenly some of us stopped living together.”

Steve shifted uncomfortably, silently grateful that he’d said it like that and hadn’t just said that they were _fucking_.

“The meeting this morning was ok”, Tony continued, rubbing one or another chemical-smelling foamy gel between on fingers before spreading it on his hair. “Tactical aspects are just as important as everything else, I get it. But it’s not adequate and it’s not enough. Here, let me give you an example.” Apparently satisfied with what he saw on the mirror, he started pacing, followed by Steve’s blue eyes. “It’s like training your water polo team by gathering them for pizza and movies in someone’s living room, and then expect them to win the Olympics!”

“So what would you have us do? Blow things up so we don’t forget how to…?”

“No. But we could be given something else to do.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Civil disturbances, crime scenes?”

“Civil disturbances? That’d be like launching a nuke to get rid of a wasp nest in your back yard.”

“Terrorist attacks, then.”

Steve sighed.

“The Avengers is an elite response team for very specific purposes that…”

“And now you’re just quoting Fury. From the meeting this morning, no less.”

“In any case…”

“In any case”, Tony interrupted, “we’ll have to stay fit and ready on our own.” The smile on his lips did nothing to reassure Steve and the soldier just stood there, with the gears turning in his head almost visibly, as Tony stood up on tiptoes to press a kiss to his lips. That was something he did only when Steve was spacing out or daydreaming (or too aroused), since then he was unlikely to really notice and use it to tease him later. Of course the teasing wasn’t serious; not coming from the man whose most hated thing in the world was bullying. “Come on, we’re supposed to get our new suits fitted at four.”

“Tony, it’s almost five already…”

“Yeah. So get ready.”

Steve just sighed and complied, quickly combing his hair before following Tony into their huge walk-in closet. He was sure it was bigger than most of the stores he used to buy his clothes at, so it was totally beyond him why neither of them needed a new suit, but after he’d pointed out that some of their clothes had been worn only once or twice and Tony had just blinked at him like he didn’t understand what that had to do with them needing new clothes for a charity event, he had desisted.

“Why are we going there anyway? I thought they could send someone over to bring the clothes and make the adjustments.”

“Yes. But there’s a few new models at the boutique that I’d like to check out.”

The blonde opened his mouth to jokingly say he hoped he meant clothes on the yet-to-be-released summer collection and not flesh and bone mannequins, in the hope of distracting him some more, but he was interrupted by JARVIS.

“Sir, you have a phone call.”

“Ignore it. Or take it and tell them I’ll call back at some point in the future if I’m interested enough in what they have to say.”

JARVIS went silent for less than a minute.

“I’ll have to ask you to reconsider your decision, Sir. The circumstances are… unusual.”

“Unusual how?” He asked, since by now everyone knew that his life was everything but what others called usual.     

“The person calling claims to be holding your son captive, Sir.”

“Your _what_?” Steve almost shouted in shock, a t-shirt halfway down his torso.

“My what?” Tony asked almost simultaneously. “I don’t have any offspring, JARVIS, you know that.”

“The tone and inflection in the caller’s voice indicates that he’s telling the truth. Even if his information is flawed, I am 98.8% sure that he believes what he’s saying.”

Tony’s face went serious.

“Track the call, Jarvis. And tell the caller I’ll talk to them.”

“Already on it, Sir.”

“Tony…”

“Don’t say a word. It’ll be better if they think I’m alone.”

Steve made a face, but he didn’t comment. Even though he tried, it sometimes did bother him when Tony treated him like he was an idiot, or simply very naïve. Did he often forget that he was a veteran soldier? It sure seemed like he did.

“Connecting the call, Sir.”

Just an instant later, the smart crystal panel in front of him changed into a pulsing map of the Americas as Jarvis tracked the phone call.

“This is Tony Stark”, he said.

“What a pain in the ass that security system of yours is, Stark! One’d think it’s very effective, but it almost got your kid killed here.”

“I don’t have any kids. Believe me, I’d know if I did.”

“Which means that for all you are a genius and whatnot, you don’t know shit, huh?” the man laughed.

“I want proof.”

“Fair. Here’s your proof!”

From the sound, it was evident that he’d taken the phone off his ear and had changed to speaker.

On a side holo display, Jarvis put his analysis of the audio: five people, most likely all male, in a small-sized room.

_Come on, squeal for daddy, you little fag!_ A voice said, and after a loud smacking sound, the sound of a muffled but terrified scream made Tony wince. On the screen, Jarvis added another detail: victim was male, between 13 and 17 years old. Still no sign that it could just be a setup. Tony frowned.

“So what is it that you want?”

“What you have plenty of. We want fifty million bucks. In cash.”

“That’ll be harder than you think.”

“What? You’ll pretend you don’t have that kind of money?”

“Not the way you want it. Nobody carries that much cash in their pocket. Hell, I don’t even carry cash on me at all, this being the digital era and even hot dogs stands taking plast…”

“Do what you have to”, the caller interrupted. “We’ll call you again and give you instructions on how to deliver it. And you better believe me, you’ll want to keep this brat alive!”

The call ended abruptly.

In front of them, the screen showed the exact location of the cellphone used to make the call.

“Awesome. Get the suit ready and make a flight plan, Jarvis.”

“Working on it, Sir.”

He turned towards Steve, giving him a lopsided apologetic smile.

“Looks like you’ll have it your way and we’ll wear something of what we already have.”

Steve, brows furrowed, was studying the map that displayed the origin of the call.

“What the hell is going on?”

“Someone thinks they’ve got a kid of mine, apparently.”

“Any idea of why they’d think that?”

“Because they’re not very good at what they do, that’s why.”

“You don’t even…”

“Look, Steve, they called me and wasted a lot of precious time babbling, allowing me to track them down. I’ll be surprised if this isn’t the first time they try something like this.”

“And the sloppiness isn’t suspicious at all? For all we know, this could be a trap.”

“Nah, I don’t think they’re bright enough to devise something like that.”

“If it’s something to minor, then call the police and let them deal with them.”

“I thought you didn’t want to go to the fitting.”

“It’s not about the clothes, Tony”, he said, evidently having to gather even the last shard of his patience to deal with him. “It’s just the way you’ve been acting lately. And what you said about this morning’s meeting?”

“Mark 49 standing by. Weather and ATC analysis finished, flight plan modeled taking these into consideration, Sir.”

“Thanks, buddy” and he started towards the platform, with Steve following him for all of three steps before he made a grab for his arm. With all of Steve’s old fashioned gentlemanly manners, it was easy to forget how strong he really was. Tony couldn’t help staring at the hand around his bicep for a couple of seconds.

“I’m starting to worry. About you.” And about what an unstable Tony Stark meant for the rest of the world, but he knew better than to say that. After all, he hadn’t been called into strategic planning meetings back in the war for his motivating speech while clad in tights or the guts it took to dive head-first into hostile territory. Not _only_ for that, at least.

“I’m ok, Steve, I really am. I know that’s not my son because I don’t have one. But they do have some kid and they might harm him if they think that’ll win them anything. So yeah, I’m going down to…” he made a little pause to take a quick look at the map, then continued. “San Bernardino, and take care of things. We know how good the cops are. They’ll want to stick to their protocols and by the time they even find them, the kid and these fifth-rate snatchers will all have died of old age.”

 “At least call for backup. And I’m coming with you.”

“No, I don’t think that’ll be necessary. You and Jarvis can keep an eye on things, and… you know a plane will only hold us back.” He put his hand over the one Steve still had on his arm, and was relieved when the soldier let go of him, resignedly following him into the lounge room that had access to the platform.

“Something feels off about this. It’s…” It was that old prickling sensation he’d known in the battlefield, when an unseen enemy had them locked on as targets, the same sensation that was followed by an alerting shout of grenades or enemy fire. There were no words to describe it accurately. “Just be safe, Tony.”

“I will”, he smiled at him, and then leaned in for a quick kiss. Steve’s cautiousness was good for the team, but at times he had to make a conscious effort to perceive that trait as endearing rather than annoying.

He struck a pose, and he found Steve’s amazed expression as the Mark attached to his body so enthralling, that he was more convinced than ever that continuing the modifications and improvements on the suit was worth it just to watch the effect they had on his boyfriend’s face.

“I’ll be back for dinner”, he said, and then he took off.

Steve sighed as he watched Tony quickly disappear in the afternoon sky. He was Captain America, and the leader of the Avengers; he shouldn’t be left at home planning dinner like some traditional housewife.

“Son of a bitch”, he muttered, and immediately winced. No matter what Natasha said, Tony was proving to be a bad influence for him if he was already cursing when he didn’t mean to.

“Jarvis, erase every evidence of that.”

“Done, Captain Rogers.”

“And now, I’d like to see what’s going on.” He went to sit by the table that held one of the holographic pads. “Can you put it all in here?”

“Certainly, Captain Rogers.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's almost 4 AM where I live, but I've been once more attacked by insomnia so here, dawn-time update! xD
> 
> I hope you like (or at least don't hate) this. Please let me know if you find any typos or grammar mistakes and, of course, I'll be delighted to hear what you think of this so far. I'm stupidly excited because I think nobody has any idea of where this is headed yet~
> 
> I'll try to update as often as I can. If anything, I'll do my best so updates aren't two weeks in between.
> 
> Thanks so much for reading!


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the late and short update. I've been having problems with my computer... you know how that goes. I've been writing on paper, so the story is progressing at a decent rythm. I promise I'll do my best to update soon!
> 
> This short chapter is unbeta'ed, so if you spot any mistakes, they're all on me. Please, point any mistakes out and, if you feel like it, let me know what you think of this so far.
> 
> Thanks!

**Chapter 2.**

 

“Can you believe this place? Seriously, how dare anyone complain about stereotypes when people seem to dedicate their lives to perpetuate them?” He asked both Steve and Jarvis as he flew over the area, descending onto the roof of the old apartment complex.

“According to Jarvis”, Steve’s voice said, “the place used to be a really nice and elegant thing, until a fire pretty much destroyed it only a couple of months after it was inaugurated. Looks like the insurance wasn’t enough to pay for all the damage and rebuild, so it was left like that.”

“And time didn’t do it any favors.”

Steve chose not to comment on that. Knowing what had happened and coming to terms with it as a fact was one thing. It didn’t mean that seeing a place much younger than himself look so run down and ancient didn’t clash painfully with how he perceived himself.

“Jarvis, run a scan for life forms inside the building.”

“Immediately, Sir.”

The result of the scan was quickly displayed on his visor, first including a large number of pigeons, rats, and a nest of stray cats, but then Jarvis cleaned it up and only distinctively human heat signatures were displayed. There was a handful of people in the ground, even a couple in the basement, but everything on top of that was pretty much deserted, except for two signatures in the top floor, which Jarvis had located the cell phone in.

Tony flew around the building, easily locating the targeted apartment. Only one of the two windows still had a glass pane, and even that was so cracked it was a miracle it was even holding.

“Are you seeing this?”

“I am. It looks a bit too still.”

“Jarvis, run a double check on that signal.”

“I already did, Sir. Location of the mobile device is confirmed.”

“Ok. Then I guess there’s only one possible course of action.”

“Tony, what are you…?” But of course, Iron Man was already flying in. “That could very well be a trap!”

Of course, he didn’t pay any attention to him and went in through the pane-less window.

“Sir, the heat signatures are…”

“I’m seeing it.”

“What in the world…?” said Steve at the same time Tony made a face. Now that the scanner was closer, it was evident that the heat signatures were slowly diminishing in size. The soldier felt his guts knot as his mind screamed that there was some kind of thing posterior to his time, that was about to blow up the building and do only God knew what to his boyfriend.

Upon turning the corner into what had evidently once been a living room, the reason for the gradual change became evident.

“Oh, shit.”

That particular curse wasn’t Steve’s style, but he nodded in complete agreement as Jarvis showed him what Tony was seeing: there were four bodies on the floor. A couple of them still registered heat signatures, but Jarvis detected no vital signs at all. There was evidence of a rather violent encounter, with the guys now dead on the floor having obviously been caught off guard and tried to defend themselves with cheap hand guns, while a larger caliber shower had rained on them. The cell phone from which the call had been made lay on the floor, right next to one of the dead guys. A few paces from there, a digital camera had obviously been sitting on an old plastic chair, which had been smashed into during the fight. With a mental shrug, Tony went to pick it up.

“Tony, what are you doing?”

“Finding out what happened here.”

“That’s evidence. You should be calling the police.”

“No, I don’t… think so. We need to know, too, and your friends the cops won’t exactly volunteer the info”, he said as he extracted the memory card from the camera and inserted it in a slot the suit. It was easier said than done. Even with all the work he’d been putting on the details, the gauntlets were still much thicker than ideal for certain types of work.

“Copying files”, Jarvis informed.

“You’re messing with evidence in a crime scene!” He protested, but Tony was unfazed. “That’s it, Tony, I’m calling the cops. You should get out of there.”

“Jarv?”

“I’m sorry, Captain Rogers. I cannot allow you to do that”. There was a pause during which Steve found out that his phone and the elevator were being blocked by Jarvis. “File transference complete.”

“You’re great, Jarv.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

Tony wrapped the strap of the camera around his wrist and continued studying the scene, trying, regardless of what Steve thought, not to interfere with the evidence. Not more than was strictly necessary, at least.

“What do we have in the files?”

Jarvis started displaying the photos. Some of them were of a party, more or less as controlled and ordered as Tony’s wildest used to be, with the sole difference being the obvious disparity of price and quality. And taste, Tony added mentally as Jarvis showed him some other pics.

“No big shots, then”, Tony murmured as he moved next to a fallen cell phone, black, small, new and painfully… austere, if one wanted to be kind. He poked it to life, and a few keystrokes confirmed his suspicions: it was the phone from where the call had been made. “I’m taking this back with me to…”

Steve had taken his seat back, but he was completely silent, his irritation from being locked in and having his communication cut off by his lover had evaporated the moment some other pictures came up. Some of the shots were terrible, evidently taken with extreme care, but from a distance that had been too great for the cheap camera’s capacity. They showed a dark-haired teen at school, at a coffee shop and at some other places a lot less discernible from just the pics. The stalker style of the photos made Steve’s skin rise in goose bumps.

“Son of a bitch”, Tony cursed as he looked at even more photos, the latest showing the same boy bound, gagged and blindfolded. There was a bad bruise on his jaw, a cut on his temple bleeding so copiously that the blood had soaked the shoulder of his green sweater; the background was obviously the same room he was now standing in, and even with the blindfold and the improvised gag, the boy’s distress was evident.

“Jarvis, can you make one of those model reproductions of that place?” Steve asked, his voice making it evident that his throat was parchment dry.

“Already have, Captain Rogers. The scan is complete and the digital reproduction is ready to be accessed.”

“Good, good. If there’s nothing else there, Tony, then come back.” And maybe there was at least a hint of authority in his voice, but they were all too busy with the matter at hand to be distracted by anything else.

“Headed there, Steve. Jarvis, get me a fast route.”


	4. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next week I'm going on a trip and won't be back home until sunday or so... so I decided to update sooner, since next week I'll be unable to and won't even have much time to write. If things go as expected and the muses cooperate, next chapter will be longer and some new twists will happen.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter :3

**Chapter 3**

 

The part of Tony that would never stop being a showman had been strongly unsure about the new armor design and the role of the implants. For one thing, it was practical and the sight of the independent pieces attaching to his body was simply breath-taking. But he did miss the robotic arms at work in perfect coordination to disassemble the armor.

What he didn’t miss was the expression on Steve’s face when he got back. Not that he hadn’t expected it, after the continued silence that had accompanied him during the return flight.

“What were you thinking?”

“Yeah, I’m home, darling”, Tony said almost in a sing song as he made a bee line to the bar.

“You had no right!”

The time they’d known each other had been more than enough for Tony to learn how Steve worked, and since a lecture was evidently unavoidable by now, he just mixed a drink.

“I understand why you felt the need to go and check it out personally, and I agree, but that doesn’t mean you had to destroy a crime scene!”

Steve was coming his way, which meant his time for ignoring his preaching was all out. He took another glass out and poured another drink.

“You should have stayed there as a witness of sorts, confessed you had moved things. Or at the very least you could have put the things back the way you found them.”

“Drink?”

Steve’s face hardened.

“Are you listening to me?”

Tony let out a heavy breath.

“Look, I know what you’re thinking, but you’re wrong.”

The blond crossed his arms, glaring at him. Hell, he just needed to tap his foot down and he’d be the very incarnation of the concept of disapproval.

“I would help. At least this once. I’d actually offer my help to the police or to whoever was necessary, but truth be told, protocols sometimes are just official excuses to waste time and resources. You know that. Statistically, it’ll take the cops a few days to even find the bodies, considering the location; then it’ll take them at least a couple of days to sort out what they have, and who knows how many more to actually start working on it.”

The soldier opened his mouth, but Tony interrupted him.

“And my main concern is the kid. Even if he’s got a family worried sick about him right now and someone kidnapped him for whatever reason, the police won’t even file a report on him going missing until after twenty four hours. That’s a lot of time to waste when someone’s life is in danger, wouldn’t you say? Especially when it’s just a kid, right?” He paused, then handed him the glass.

Steve just looked at the glass.

“I don’t drink, Tony,”

“No, you don’t get drunk, that’s different. And, you don’t get hung over. Which, if you ask me, is a good reason to drink, all by itself. Besides, I know you like bourbon,” he finished, pressing the glass into his hand.

Shaking his head, Steve took it, taking a gulp of the golden liquor.

“Still, with the phone call and the technology you have, Tony, you should have…”

Tony rolled his eyes, doing his best to block the lecture out while paying enough attention to nod or shake his head in all the right places.

*****

Steve had bitched about doing things right for at least an hour, and when Tony had pointed that out, the blond had started bitching about how no, he did not bitch. Not ever. Then, the only reason they hadn’t slept in separate beds that night was because Tony had been drunk enough to not make any caustic remarks or ingenious come-backs once Steve’s patience had started to run thin.

The next day had been mostly an uncomfortable silence only broken now and then to make wild theories about what the hell had happened. Maybe the kid they had kidnapped was the son of some influent person and the band had somehow gotten it mixed up and thought the kid was his? If that was the case, and the kid was some politician’s, or belonged to some mafia family, maybe his people had rescued him and taken justice in their own hands. Or maybe they thought they were speaking to someone else when they had called? No, that didn’t make sense. They had clearly addressed Tony by name. But then, he was absolutely sure he had no children. A couple of flings had tried to pin their mistakes on him, but it was always too easy to make a test… and they had all come back with negative results.

“Sir?” Jarvis’ voice ripped them both off their contemplative trances.

“What’s up, Jarv?”

“There has been a relevant update on the police’s database.”

“Well, spit it out, buddy!” he said, with perhaps a bit too much enthusiasm.

Steve had long resigned to Tony’s shameless hacking –no matter what he decided to call it, it was enough for him to have learned that word to unlearn it just because of Tony’s snobbish lexicon– of the government servers, but he still frowned, albeit for a whole different reason.

“A missing person report has just been filed. The photographs in the report match in a 96% the pictures of the kidnapped teenager. The report has been filled for a John Mayer, fourteen years old, resident of San Bernardino, California. He was last seen yesterday morning before seven.”

Tony nodded.

“Has the police made the connection?”

“Not yet, Sir. From their files, it would seem they are focused on identifying the corpses.”

“Which makes perfect sense, hounding after leads on dead bodies instead of focusing on finding a boy who’s most likely still alive, but in danger of that situation changing in any moment.”

A few feet away, Steve did his damnedest to convey without words how the sarcasm wasn’t appreciated, and how the cops would probably have established the connection and following the right path with their investigation if not for Tony’s interference.

“Get us information on the boy, Jarvis.”

“Immediately, Sir. Accessing the most popular servers for social networks.”

In just seconds, Jarvis filled the holo-displays with e-mail and forum board accounts, twitter, tumblr, facebook, myspace…

“Who the hell has a MySpace anymore?”

Steve stood next to him, unsure of how to feel about the crass invasion of privacy. Abuse of power or authority were still among the things that made him the most uncomfortable, even after all the things he’d seen in his life. On the other hand, if it helped rescuing the boy, he guessed it could almost be considered a concession of war times. He didn’t say so aloud, of course, because he knew what would happen then, and if there were times when he asked himself why exactly he was with Tony, it was mostly when the engineer was gloating over being right… again.

“That’s… a lot of information for a fourteen year old.”

“Welcome to the era of information.” He paused, without taking his eyes off the screens. “See? This is what bothers me. People go publishing their favorite chewing gum brand and flavor on the most visited social network in the world”, he said, pointing to a post on facebook, “and then they’re surprised when someone kidnaps them.”

“You’re one to talk, after you gave your address to a powerful terrorist.”

“Yeah, well… we all know what happened, right? Besides, I can afford bodyguards…”

“Which you ditch all the time.”

“And I have the suits”, he continued, as if he hadn’t heard him. “And Jarvis. And Captain America. See how it’s hardly the same thing?”

Knowing that it was pointless to argue, Steve just shook his head and helped Tony to analyze the information, trying to prove or disprove various theories.

From what they could see, the kid had never had any contact with the guys who had taken him, so his being a willing participant in some kind of con play seemed unlikely. There was nothing special about him, though; he was just a regular fourteen year old attending public middle school, living with his aunt and uncle.

Hours later, Jarvis had to remind Steve that they both needed food, and Tony asked why he never told him that kind of thing when it was only him working in the lab.

“Actually, Sir, I do, although previous experience shows that you will disregard my advice when it comes to your welfare, while Captain Rogers is consistently more sensible on the matter.”

“Wow, thanks, Jarv. Good thing to know you’re always on my side.”

“All the time, Sir.”

Steve was re-entering the room in that precise moment.

“Dinner will be here in a moment.”

“Uh huh.”

“And I want you to take a break then… or I’ll move back to my old apartment for an undetermined amount of time.”

“You wouldn’t”, he said with total conviction. Still, when Jarvis announced that their food had arrived, Tony grudgingly let himself be dragged away from the screens.

Over the next few days, it became a challenge for Tony to find out where the boy was being held or at least the reason why he had been kidnapped. The only thing that kept him from going nuts with frustration was that he could keep reminding Steve of how awesome his boyfriend was, as the cops slowly advanced in their investigation, following Tony’s path ten, then eleven, then twelve steps behind.

Steve had finally admitted to himself that maybe he was enjoying the thrill of it all a bit too much, though never to Tony. Eight days later, he was ready to tell his boyfriend that it all had already become an unhealthy obsession and that maybe he should give the information to someone else, drop the investigation and resume one of the other half-done projects Steve couldn’t hope to even begin to understand.

That was when the package arrived.


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my computer died. For good, apparently.  
> I did, however, continue writing on paper, and I've been commandeering dad's computer to type this chapter and have this update for you. I hope you like it and it's worth the wait. Updates will most likely happen every two weeks or so... faster if I can manage it, but until I can get a new computer (or at least a new hard drive to resucitate my old computer), I can't be certain. What I can tell you is that the story is about to start for real, and chapters are going to be longer from here on.
> 
> This is un-beta'ed due to circumstances, so all and every mistakes are mine and solely mine. Please point them out if you spot them... especially typos, because writing on a strange computer causes just that (at least to me... because I'm talented).
> 
> Thank you in advance for reading, and know that nothing makes me happier than hearing what you think :3
> 
> Sweet moons!

**Chapter 4**

 

Like any package that wasn’t listed as Tony having ordered it, the disc had been at risk of being forever lost on the administrative levels of the Avengers Tower. As luck would have it, though, Pepper had arrived just as the receptionist signed the receipt.

“I’ll take that”, she told the girl, who just smiled at her with a mix of awed admiration and relief.

“Welcome, Miss Potts”, greeted the AI that ruled the tower.

“Good morning, Jarvis. Could you tell Tony that I’m headed to his floor, please?”

“Already have, Miss Potts.”

“Thank you”, she said with an honest smile on her lips. Long experience had taught her that one of the best ways to corral Tony in before he went off to do something reckless or simply thwarted plans that went from necessary to vital for the well-being of his company and the people involved with it, was not warning him before she pressed paperwork into his hands. However, the last time she had shown up unannounced at the penthouse, she had walked in on Tony and Steve mostly naked on the couch. Tony had laughed it off, but she and Steve had been unable to look each other in the eye for almost two weeks after that, and she had since then avoided sitting on that couch. Between her deep knowledge of Tony, Steve’s t-shirts that looked like they had been painted on and her imagination were more than enough to give her some pretty detailed mental images without voluntarily adding fuel to it all.

As the elevator’s doors parted, she was relieved to be met by a very much dressed Steve Rogers.

“Good morning, Miss Potts.”

“Good morning, Captain Rogers”, she responded with a grin, knowing full well what his reaction would be.

“Steve, please.”

“Not until you call me Pepper. And don’t even think of calling me Virginia. Absolutely nobody does.”

Steve just smiled at her, still a bit awkward after all that time. She wasn’t sure if it was, like Tony had said, just his general uneasiness around women or if it had something to do with the fact that she was Tony’s ex.

“So, is Tony around?”

“Over in the lab”, he said tiredly, though he felt physically full of energy.

“He’s still obsessing over that kidnapping, isn’t he?”

The blond nodded, frowning. How exactly had Pepper gotten to the point of accepting Tony’s eccentricities as normal? He himself felt like the madness was starting to rub off on him and he was far from being able to simply accept some things as part of everyday life, so he couldn’t do anything but admire Stark Industries’ CEO. Perhaps if someone was deserving of the Iron Person nickname in the world, it was her.

“At least we know that if the Police had the information and the evidence and everything else, they couldn’t dedicate more technology, time or energy to the case than he is.”

“Isn’t it sad that that’s what makes us feel better about this?”

Steve snorted, because the thought had crossed his mind… and it had been phrased almost exactly like that in his mind voice, too.

“Well, let’s hope that what I brought with me is interesting or annoying enough to make him take a break.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know. I mean, for sure it is a disc of some sort” she said as she turned the small package in her hands, “but I still have no idea of its contents.”

The soldier nodded as he went to pick up a tray he had left on a table, and then headed for the secondary elevator that was the only way into Tony’s personal laboratory.

“So he hasn’t been feeding himself. Again”, Pepper commented as she casually studied the contents of the tray: a baguette loaded with thick slices of ham and cheese, juice, a small plate with salad and a little bowl of diced fruit. It wasn’t until she noticed Steve was giving her an amused look that she realized her head was apparently giving an approving nod all by itself. The smile on her lips was a bit embarrassed, matching the color rising on her cheeks. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t…”

“It’s fine”, he answered with a chuckle.

“Old habits die hard, I guess.”

Steve wondered if the smile he was giving her right in that moment looked as different on his lips as it felt. It was refreshing to see that, despite the eccentricity and the humongous ego and the sheer craziness –or perhaps because of those? – Tony had friends who loved him enough to police over what kind of food he was eating.

“You did a good job taking care of him.”

Pepper laughed.

“You’re way too much of a gentleman, Steve. I barely managed to keep him, to keep _us_ alive, and I was doing my best!”

“Yeah… well, he does have a tendency to make things blow up and piss the wrong people off.” A small pause. “Although, on second thought, he tends to annoy most people, so it makes sense that every now and then he does the same with the wrong person.”

“Which may be why this is the perfect job for you. Or, you’re the perfect person for the job. Keeping Tony relatively safe is a job fit only for a superhero.”

Steve was about to answer to that when the elevator chimed and the doors slid open to let them into the lab floor.

“At least he’s eating all the food groups now.”

“Only if I keep close watch”, and this answer got another laugh from her.

Balancing the tray with one hand, Steve keyed his code in the digital pad, and just an instant later, the security glass door opened to let the loud notes of ACDC pour into the corridor.

Steve winced, wondering if he’d ever get used to what Tony liked to listen, or how loudly he played it, or how exactly it was that he concentrated on anything with that kind of noise as background.

“Tony?” he called at his back. The engineer didn’t look away from the holographic screen he was studying as if he was trying to make it catch fire just with the sheer intensity of his glare. “Tony!”

Still, there was no answer, which wasn’t surprising, considering the music –and yes, he would forever have difficulties calling ACDC and such bands _music_ –and the way his boyfriend could get lost in thought.

“Jarvis, lower the music, please.”

The volume dropped and only then did Tony look away from the data suspended mid-air.

“Jarv, why did you…?”

“So you’ll at least acknowledge our existence.”

“I assumed it was Steve, here to force-feed me again”, he said almost cheerfully as he turned his chair around, caching sight of his boyfriend still carrying the tray. “And I wasn’t off.”

By the way Steve sighed, equal parts frustration, exasperation and resignation, all sprinkled with some amusement, Pepper guessed that the task of feeding Tony hadn’t gotten any easier in the past few months. The smile she gave the captain was pure knowing sympathy.

“Yes. That happens about three times a day. Strange, huh?” With an efficiency that told the story of his military career, Steve piled some papers one-handedly and put them aside to make room for the tray on the work table closest to Tony.

Since it was almost impossible to make Tony shut up once he started babbling, Pepper hurried to beat him when she saw him open his mouth.

“And you have a package.”

The engineer turned, spared the small package in Pepper’s hands a quick glance and immediately decided he wasn’t interested.

“I didn’t order anything.”

“Which I figured, since it arrived to the front desk and not directly up here.”

“What is it, anyway?” And apparently Steve did have a slightly easier time getting food into Tony, since he didn’t reject the baguette when it was shoved into his hands. The bite and chew motion did look kinda automatic.

“A disc. From… well, it doesn’t say.” Her brows furrowed. So maybe Rhodey was right and she was in serious need of vacations. Usually, she would have noticed the lack of sender’s address and name right away.

“It’s probably more fan mail”, Tony commented dismissingly around a mouthful of baguette.

“It’d probably be easier if we opened a division to deal with all the Avengers’ fan base”, she suggested as she took a seat on a nearby chair, her nail picking at the tape to open the package. “If we did accept the contract for merchandise and other things, the money could be donated to some charity.”

“We can do that?” Steve asked.

“Sure. It wouldn’t be the first time something of the sort is done, though it’s usually artists who do it. Sports stars, too.”

“I thought you hated publicity and stuff”, Tony said in a tone that wasn’t a complaint but came damn close to it.

“How strange”, Pepper muttered as she saw the case of the disc. She had been expecting a logo or something that told her who had sent it, but the cover was all white except for the words For Anthony E. Stark neatly printed on it. She was starting to think that maybe Toy had been right about it being fan mail. People loved to call him Tony, as if calling him that somehow brought them closer, but fans got weird some times.

“It’s different if it’s for charity and not for profit.”

“We already donate large sums of money and goods to different charities. And, it’s still the same thing, regardless of the purpose.”

“I wouldn’t mind signing the occasional autograph”, Steve shrugged. “I’ve done it before.”

“Believe me, it wouldn’t be occasional.”

“What are you even arguing about? You love to sign things when people ask you to in the street.”

“That. You can go anywhere and people won’t stop you for autographs or pictures. Nobody knows you’re Captain America. It’s different for me.”

“Because you decided to tell the world you’re Iron Man. And you did that because you love the attention, so…”

Pepper’s yelp had them both turning sharply towards her before the open CD case hit the floor, shattering a corner and sending small plastic shards flying.

“Pep! What’s wrong?!”

“Are you alright?” And if they hadn’t been so preoccupied, Tony would have teased him about the relation between his being surprised and the significant thickening of his Brooklyn accent.

Pepper nodded, her eyes fixed on the broken case on the floor.

“That’s… that’s… a f-finger nail” she managed to get out.

While Tony wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders, Steve picked up the case, his eyes ignoring the white CD in favor of the small plastic bag taped to the interior of the case. Pepper was right: it was a fingernail, slightly bent and covered in dried blood.

“Tony, what the hell?”

“Let’s find out”. With that, he extended his hand for the case and once Steve handed it over, he just took the disc, leaving the blond holding the case and the small bag taped to it. He walked to the nearest console and inserted the disc into a reading unit.

“I assume an exhaustive analysis is preferred for this, Sir?”

“You’d be right, Jarvis. Find everything there is to know about the disc and its origins.”

Pepper received a glass of water from Dummy, and in any other set of circumstances, Tony would have congratulated himself on finally managing to make the bot learn not to overfill glasses and spilling the contents on the way to serve them… or at least not most of the contents. He was, however, too focused on the scan of the disc to pay much attention to Dummy’s actions.

“Analysis complete, Sir. The scan shows the content of the disc is limited to a single video and one simple text file.”

“What’s in the text document?”

A new holo-display lighted up nearby, and the disappointing text showed and ID for a popular email server, accompanied by a password a five year old could have guessed in his sleep.

“Trace that account.”

“Already working on it, Sir.”

“And play the video.”

“Of course, Sir.” The display became much bigger and the lights in the lab dimmed just slightly.

The video started with a black screen hat remained for a few seconds, until all of a sudden there was a loud cracking sound and lights came on to reveal a non-descript small rooms, all plain white walls and gray concrete floor washed by a dull white light. However, everyone’s attention had immediately focused on the figure, blindfolded, gagged and tied to a chair near the farthest corner of the room. Even so, it was easy to recognize the brunette boy from the pictures Tony had recovered earlier.

“Greetings. Tony Stark.” The voice was unmistakably electronic, but the pause had obviously bee meant to be menacing, perhaps deprecating. “You must have a lot of questions by now, but save them. Right now this is a one-way communication, but even if it was possible for you to talk to us, you are in no position to ask anything. Not even questions.”

All three of them recognized this pause as that simple old technique to provoke fear. Knowing how it worked managed to diminish the effect just a little bit.

“In any case”, the electronic voice continued in its parsimonious, impersonal rhythm, “you should keep all your attention right here. If you’re half as good as your reputation suggests, you already know who this is; however, since this is a delicate matter, let’s be perfectly clear. Anthony Stark, meet John Mayer, your son.”

This time, the pause had exactly its intended effect, forcing them to think about it with all they had. Tony’s frown, a mix of concern and indignation, matched Steve’s, and the wheels turning in Pepper’s head could almost be heard.

“His life and well-being depend solely on your actions… and how well you choose to play with us. If you cooperate, we will release him. It really is as simple as that.”

Steve gritted his teeth, his fists so tight that his knuckles had gone white.

“Our findings say that you don’t know John at all, and of course, we won’t ask you to trust our word just like that; after all, we don’t know each other yet, and everyone knows how much you love hard facts. So, as a show of our honesty and good will, we will send you some evidence.”

Two men entered the scene, dressed in new-looking blue overalls, thick polyurethane gloves, work boots and Halloween masks that, for all their evident lack of quality, did a very good job hiding the guys’ identities.

One of them grabbed he boy’s left hand and forced his fingers open, and Pepper averted her gaze as the other one used a pair of pliers to yank off the boy’s thumb nail, unmoved by his muffled cries and useless struggles. No matter how hard the boy tried, the thick ropes held him firmly.

Tony felt his mouth go dry.

“You will find a list of things in the account that your computers are already studying. Try as hard as you want, it will be useless. We know what we are doing”, the electronic voice went on as the boy continued to cry out and pull on his restraints. One of the men took a small plastic bag out of his pocket and put the bloodied nail in it, while the other backhanded the boy across the face, so hard that the chair he was bound to almost overbalanced, but the guy only growled at him, not articulating a single word. “You have three days from the date you received the disc. Seventy two hours counting from the first access to the account, to hand over the materials we have requested. Fail to get us what we want in the appointed time, and we will send you his balls next. Contact any authorities, and you will be receiving an arm or a leg. Try to track us or pull any clever moves on us, and we will be glad to deliver you his head… minus the body, of course. Clock is ticking, Stark.”

The screen went black, and for a few seconds, the lab was so quiet that the soft buzz of electricity could be heard.

“Damn.” It was Steve who cursed, his voice a low tone that was rarely heard out of a battlefield. In other situation, he would’ve demanded to know why Tony never reacted so promptly to his directions when they were on mission, for a fraction of a second later, Tony had grabbed the case and yanked the small plastic bag off it, moving into the corridor with long strides as he barked orders.

“Jarvis, analyze whatever’s in that account. While you’re at it, get me Banner’s lab up and ready to run a DNA test.”

“Tony, what are you going to do?” Pepper asked as she and Steve followed him into the lift.

“First of all, I need to find out if I really have a son I’ve never heard about.”

“But you said you were sure!”

“I _was_ sure! Now? Not so much.”

“But how could it…?”

“Tony’s right” Steve interrupted. “Whoever these guys are, they’re professionals, they’re not even leaving their voice signatures for us to work with. It’s very unlikely that they’d make such a great mistake as mixing up names or taking the wrong kid.”

Pepper followed Tony into Bruce’s lab, unoccupied for a few weeks until he came back from a seminar in Poland, as she nodded to Steve’s words. There were days when she stopped, took a look at her life and wondered how she had managed to survive to it all. This day would be, without a doubt, one of those incidents in her life. Other times she had to wonder if something was irremediably wrong with her, because she didn’t regret a single decision or event in her life.

“Jarvis?”

“Equipment ready to receive material.”

Without a second thought, Tony ripped the small bag open, dumped the nail on a clock glass and put into the chamber for the computers to run the analysis.

“DNA test in progress.”

“Shouldn’t you be more careful with that?” the soldier asked.

“If it was a bomb…”

“He’s right, Tony. Maybe not a bomb, but some other thing. A bacteria or a virus, maybe.”

“If they wanted me dead, there’s easier ways to give it a try than kidnapping and torturing a boy to use him as an excuse to send me a package with a virus that I might not even touch.”

“No pathogenic agents detected on the sample”, Jarvis supplied helpfully.

“There. Thanks, buddy.”

“DNA analysis complete. Comparing results with your DNA now, Sir.”

Tony stared at the screens, as if the intensity in his gaze could accelerate the machines’ processing power. His concentration was so deep that he didn’t even blink when Steve put his hand on his shoulder.

“DNA comparison complete. The results are positive. The sample does come from your offspring, Sir.”


	6. Chapter 5

 

**Chapter 5.**

_I have a son._

_I have a son, and he’s in danger._

After hearing the results, Tony had pretty much crumbled down. He’d sat on the floor for what felt like an eternity, half of him trying to digest the information and half of him bracing for the imminent anxiety attack.

It didn’t come.

Not fully, at least, and when he felt both Steve and Pepper kneel down next to him, already fussing about him, he realized it had only been a couple of seconds, if that.

“That’s…” _impossible_ , his mind finished. Had to be. He’d been through all the information on the kid over and over, and he was sure he didn’t remember the mother’s face. Her name didn’t ring a bell either, and he was so sure that he’d always been careful, even when he was too drunk to keep his vertical. No matter how extreme the precautions, there was always something that could go wrong… that was one of the things he loved about experimental science and hands-on engineering, the enigma, the thrill of the risk. This he could wrap his mind around, shocking as it was. The really unthinkable thing was that he hadn’t heard a word, that he hadn’t had the slightest idea about the existence of the boy while someone else, someone other than the boy’s mother, clearly knew.

“Oh, God”, Pepper sounded as shocked as he felt. “Tony, what are we going to do?”

Tony turned to look at her. He could have kissed her right then, for being there, for being his friend, for being able to be practical and focus and actually think of trying to find a solution instead of just joining his frozen mental state, for including herself in the hard and un-fun parts of his life without a second thought.

“I… I don’t know. I…” Because this wasn’t the kind of problem he was used to deal with. In comparison, declaring war on a very resourceful terrorist and fighting off an alien invasion seemed like a walk in the park. At least in those situations he knew what had to be done.

It was Steve who spoke up.

“First, we ensure his survival and well-being, as best as we can. Once that’s done, we figure out how to rescue him and get his captors.” The plan rolled easily off his tongue, his mind automatically prioritizing things and kicking the need to know more about the boy and his mother to the back burner. The ability to think on how to solve a real mess just as other difficulties tackled him and those around him like a bullet train was probably what had gotten his team out of many life-or-death situations back during the war. On bad days, he wondered if it wasn’t a curse. On good days, he tried not to let his brain get sarcastic and remind him of how it hadn’t been enough to keep Bucky alive and himself awake. Right now, he could only be grateful for it as Tony turned his worried, anguished brown eyes on him.

“Jarvis, do you have anything else for us?”

“Yes, Miss Potts.” A few holodisplays came to life, showing a few pages of information. “The document stored in the provided account contains a list of materials and instructions to have it all delivered to a rental storage, as well as a reminder not to attempt to track the sender or in any other way tamper with the requested materials.

Tony got up from the floor, walking towards one of the displays. With one flick of his wrist, the screen containing information about the boy’s mother disappeared, and he then focused on one with the list of materials, his brows furrowing as he forced his brain to work on what he was seeing.

“As for the account itself, I couldn’t trace it. It would appear to have originated in the main offices of Google. However, other records inside the company’s servers evidence that the account was created by a remote user.”

“So it was created both inside and outside the place?” the soldier asked, unsure if that was possible. He was doing a good job of catching up with things, but he still had a long way to go.

“Not really. It just means that whoever set it up was good covering their tracks. Pretty good, actually, if Jarvis couldn’t track them.”

“Why use a public service like that, though?” Pepper asked.

“It does make sense. With the amount of users, the one we’re trying to locate is lost in a pool of millions.”

“So that means we can’t follow the trail, then?”

“That would appear to be the case, Steve.” Pepper answered, grateful that Tony was bothering to explain things to them with apples instead of just rambling away with words only he could understand. “Even so, if we could and we weren’t careful enough…”

Tony nodded, a serious expression on his face.

“You’re going to pay the ransom”, Steve concluded, his voice flat.

“You yourself said that our priority had to be rescuing the boy.”

“Yes, Miss Potts”, this time, she didn’t remind him to call her Pepper. “And that’s still what we have to focus on. However, we need to have a way to make sure he’s actually alright and that they won’t harm him.”

“What’s the plan, then, Cap?” and in any other situation, they would have been amazed that Tony hadn’t taken the chance to make a pun out of the phrase.

“We play the game”, Steve said. “We play the game and we make them keep playing it. The more moves they have to make, the more likely it is that they’ll make a mistake that…”

“You can’t”, Tony choked out. He knew this was most likely war tactics applied to life right now, and the next jump his mind made sent a shudder down his back and a made his guts knot, because he knew that government and commanders sometimes treated their troops, their people, as figures, as simple numbers. “You _won’t_ gamble with his life!”

And a sadistic part of him asked the rest why he cared so much, when he didn’t even know the kid. Hadn’t he learned anything at all? Why didn’t he feel upset when it was himself in the line of fire, but there he was getting all worked up by the idea of a stranger at risk? And what had his father said about his life choices coming back to bite him in the ass sooner or later? He hated to admit when he was right, even if it was years after his death.

“Nobody said we will.”

“Excuse me, but you just implied we’ll just wait for them to mess up.”

“Them messing up would make things a lot easier for us, but that doesn’t mean we’ll just wait for that to happen with our arms crossed. If there is anyone in the world who can track them down and not be detected doing it, it’s you. But you’ll need time to do it, and that’s exactly our play.”

Tony nodded, his frown deepening more and more as he scrolled down the list Jarvis had on display.

“Tony, what is it?” Pepper asked, because she knew that expression on his face could only mean trouble.

“This doesn’t make sense.”

“Why?” She stepped closer to him to read the list just as Steve did the same, but the list didn’t mean anything to them.

“It’s… it’s mostly pretty standard materials. Unless they’re building a lab, this list doesn’t make any sense.”

“Getting you to pay for an underground lab does sound like something bad.”

“Well, yes. But this kind of thing? Most of it’s not even restricted. It’s specialized equipment, but it’s far from impossible to get. Hell, most of it you can buy online with just a credit card.”

“Unless you don’t have the money for it.”

“Even so, it’d be easier to ask for the money and then get the equipment and materials. Harder to track when you don’t even know what the money will be used for. Besides, they could ask for a lot more than this” he indicated the list with a swipe of his hand, “is worth. It’s too much trouble, not to mention risk, for just this. Like I said, it doesn’t make sense.”

“For some people, making sense is completely optional.”

Pepper nodded, refraining from saying how that comment didn’t exclude present company.

Watching the counter tick the time away, Tony took a deep breath.

“Jarvis? Get the storage and the supplies on the list, and get them delivered as soon as possible. Also, send this message to our new favorite email account: I have my people hunting down everything in your list of demands; you will have it all delivered on time. I will fulfill your demands, as long as you send me proof that they boy is alive and unharmed, and that he will continue like that. Signed, Tony Stark.”

“Is that all, Sir?”

“Yes, Jarv.”

Just a few minutes later, the account received a new email, sent from the same account and as untraceable as everything had been up to that point.

 _We will send you a video every twelve hours so you can see he’s still alive_ , the message read, and as an attachment there was a video clip, showing the same boy, still tied down and blindfolded, and one of the masked goons stepping in front of the camera with the day’s newspaper well visible in his hand. It was a goddamn nation-wide paper, so it didn’t give them any clues of where he was being held.

“Well… I guess now that we know he’s alive, we should try to find out some more about this John Mayer, huh?” and his attempt at playing it cool fell completely flat.


	7. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really really sorry about having taken this long to update D:  
> On top of my computer still being dead, I've had a lot of things happening in my life, and between uncooperative muses and little time in front of a computer, I just couldn't have this up before now.
> 
> I hope you like this chapter! There's a slight change happening here and a much bigger one is about to happen.

**Chapter 6**

It had always been easy for Tony Stark to find the answers he needed and wanted. At least, it was easy once he knew all of the variables. It was also one of the things that often let him be one step ahead of those around him, and Pepper had said more than once that it was a good trait, but still one that made him completely infuriating to some people. He was fine with that.

Considering this, it wasn’t strange that after pulling up all the information Jarvis had collected into a mosaic of holos, he felt more than frustrated when the answer didn’t jump for him to see quickly. As grateful as he felt for both Steve and Pepper’s presence there, their questions, although hardly too frequent, started to irritate him.

“Well, I don’t know, Steve, why don’t you go and ask the kidnappers since they obviously have better information than us?” he snapped.

“Hey!” the blond protested.

He could feel Pepper’s stare burning a hole in the back of his neck, like a laser of pure disapproval.

After the incident, he had often wondered why Obie’s attempt at getting him killed had taken so many years to come, and he hadn’t quite bought the easy explanation that the old man had simply been waiting for him to come up with some kind of awesome technology. On second thought, it was most likely all because Pepper had done a wonderful job of making him less infuriating than he naturally was. The thought would have normally made him smirk to himself, but this time it was about Steve, so he took a deep breath, rubbing his eyes with his hands.

“I’m sorry. It’s just…”

“It’s ok.”

And Pepper’s disapproval was then turned on Steve. She obviously thought Steve spoiled him. How right or wrong she was could be the topic of a lengthy debate.

“Maybe we should take a break. Go upstairs and have dinner and…”

“I’m fine, Pep. Really. Solving this is my priority, our priority. Am I wrong? I just need more caffeine and we can try again”, he added quickly so neither Steve nor Pepper could say he was wrong.

“I just think…”

“Sir?” Jarvis interrupted, as if he was trying to prevent yet another argument. With the way the AI learnt and applied all new information, nobody would doubt that was his intention when he continued, “Agent Barton and Agent Romanoff have returned.”

Steve visibly relaxed.

“Maybe we could use some super spy input”, he suggested.

“Well, it can’t hurt. Right?” Tony said, and then pretended not to notice how Pepper and Steve exchanged a relieved look, as if they had been conspiring against him. They certainly were doing their best to make conversation while avoiding everything and anything that was even remotely related to the problem at hand. Tony remained silent as they made their way up to the common floor, situated between the penthouse and the rest of the suites.

The two of them looked like they would wolf down the pile of sandwiches in front of them and then retire to their respective rooms to sleep for a week, but remarkably unscathed. The only apparent injury was a small scratch on Natasha’s cheek, held closed by a butterfly of surgical tape.

“Oh, god. Told you we should have just taken the bread and ham and made a run for it”, Natasha complained to Clint as she saw them enter the kitchen. She was obviously not in the mood for the usual interrogation that followed every single one of their missions for SHIELD. They weren’t anything that Tony would usually find interesting, but since they were classified and thus he was not supposed to know about them, he was extremely interested.

“Good to have you back alive and in one piece”, Tony greeted, pretending not to hear her.

“What the hell happened to you?” Clint said through a mouthful of sandwich, taking in his disheveled appearance. “You’re the one who looks like he was on a twelve day mission in Buenos Aires.”

Natasha shot him a warning glare.

“Nothing like that.”

“But maybe even more worrying”, Steve said, claiming a stool for himself.

“Ok, that’s not ominous at all. Care to share?” Natasha somehow managed to look like she was crumbling onto her seat, more than sitting on it, and took a bite of sandwich that looked strangely deprived of energy.

Tony opened his mouth and stayed like that for all of three seconds, no sound coming out at all. Then, he started telling them exactly what had happened while they had been gone, starting with the phone call and the first failed attempt at a rescue.

Knowing that he wouldn’t stop until he had all the details shared and explained to the two agents, Steve got up and busied himself making a few sandwiches. He sighed when he found himself frowning, paying attention to Tony’s words as he applied mustard to a few slices of bread.

Less than an hour later, Clint and Natasha had resigned themselves to staying up for a few more hours, drinking obscene amounts of coffee as they perched on a chair and a counter in Tony’s workshop. It wasn’t too often that they were admitted, much less welcome, into Tony’s personal work space, but between the information they were still running over, the fact that they hadn’t slept in days and waiting anxiously for the video that was supposed to arrive any moment now.

“Hey, at least we’re not being grilled by Stark.”

“I wonder if that’s a good thing, though”, Natasha said in a low tone, their comments lacking their usual playfulness as the two of them automatically fell back into agent mode without even noticing it.

Pepper did notice, but didn’t comment on it.

“Sir, a new video has been received.”

“Play it”, Tony said, so tense that he didn’t even bother trying to hide the fact that he was pacing out of nervousness.

Jarvis played the video clip in one of the holo displays. It was just the same as the ones they had received before, with one of the masked men holding a newspaper in front of the camera as a proof of the date, using an afternoon publishing for the evening video. The boy was tied down in a slightly different way, but in the exact same place as before. If the boy was too still, they prodded him or hit him to force some noise out of him.

“Why didn’t SHIELD inform us of this?” Natasha demanded.

“Because SHIELD is not taking care of this”, Tony said with a little more of bite than he had intended, before knocking back what coffee was left in his mug, never taking his reddened eyes off the displays.

“When was the last time you had any proper food or sleep, Stark?”

Clint snorted at Natasha’s question, knowing full well that the same question could be asked of them.

“We’ve been feeding him reasonably well”, Pepper offered, diplomatically. That none of them had been sleeping or eating properly was pretty much implicit in her tone, just like the fact that further questioning wouldn’t help any.

Wisely, the Russian spy backed off and instead focused on the investigation.

“What do we know about the kid?”

“Technically everything. Including that he’s apparently my biological son and for fourteen years and two months I have never…” Tony stopped cold, his eyes going wide as a new idea came to his mind. “Jarvis, pull of his birth date. Go nine months before that. Pull up all my scheduling from two weeks before and after that date.” Tony rubbed his face with a hand while the AI pulled up a list of dates and places. “Now give me details about Sarah Ludwig in those same dates.”

For a few moments, everyone seemed to be holding their breath as Jarvis worked, taking irrelevant data off the holo screens and pulling up new data until it was all clear: Sarah Ludwig, then Sarah Mayer, had been working as a model under the name of Summer Lewitt. The agency for which she worked at the time, Renaissance Fashion Agency, had been in charge of good part of the organization of the gala Tony had attended in San Francisco during a seminar.

“Fuck”, Tony said as the pieces finally clicked all together and he vaguely remembered a hot blonde and a drunken weekend and having slept with one Summer once.

“Sir, the last of the materials in the list have been delivered to the storage.”

Tony’s head whipped up so fast that Clint winced, feeling phantom pains in his neck.

“Already? Well, it’s good to see that money can still buy efficiency. Ok, J, please send our favorite crowd a message informing them of that. Kindly remind them that nobody will try to track anyone down and that the location is completely unwatched. Tell them to take their stuff and give us the boy back, alive and unharmed… and no one will even try to look further into things.”

Barely a second passed when Jarvis spoke up again.

“Done, Sir.”

“Are you mad, Stark? Are you really going to simply pay the ransom and let it go?”

“If that’s what’s needed here, then yes. We can think of more elaborate plans once we’re sure John’s safe.” And his tone was so icy in its perfect calm, that even the elite assassins winced and decided to let it go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was just wondering... does anyone have any ideas or expectations about how John will turn out to be? :3 I'd love it if you let me know.
> 
> Thanks so much for reading and for putting up with my slow updates. Hits, kudos, comments... all of them mean a lot! I promise I'll do my best to have the next chapter up soon. Thanks again!!


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